Infiltrator's Key

Infiltrator’s Key
Official art of the Infiltrators Key, by Irina Nordsol.
General Information
Type	Wondrous Item
Rarity	Legendary
Materials	Mithral
Attunement	Yes
Properties	Use key as thieves' tools. Holder considered proficient and has advantage on checks to open locks Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to move silently Use bonus action to transform key into magical +1 dagger Use bonus action to create a temporary magical opening in a floor, wall or ceiling (1/Day) Spells (1/Day each) Alter Self Invisibility Knock Pass Without Trace Dimension Door Gaseous Form Mislead
Historical Information
Created by	The Lord of the Hells
Owner	Fiedra Marrow

The Infiltrator's Key is one of the Vestiges of Divergence. This mithral skeleton key was forged using the blood of twelve master thieves executed for trying to steal magic items during the Age of Arcanum. It made its first appearance on-stream in "Mirror and Key" (E4x03) in a modified version.

Appearance

The key as it appeared in Exandria Unlimited: Divergence was extremely magical-looking, with the handle bearing a symbol of a maze or labyrinth. It had a small, beautiful, but dull soul ruby set in the center of the maze which would occasionally glow with a small bit of light.

Properties

The Infiltrator's Key found in Exandria Unlimited: Divergence was an enhanced version that exhibited several properties in addition to those listed in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. The following are the properties shown in the Guide. The enhanced properties are listed below, in the "History" section.

Dormant State

• The key can be used as thieves’ tools for the purpose of opening locks. When using the key, you are considered proficient in thieves’ tools and you have advantage on ability checks made to open locks.
• While holding the key, your steps are muffled, giving you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to move silently.

Awakened State

• While holding the key, you can use a bonus action to transform the key into a magic dagger or back into a key. While the key is in the form of a dagger, you gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it, and it returns to your hand immediately after it is used to make a ranged attack.
• While holding the key, you can use an action to cast one of the following spells from it: Alter Self, Invisibility, Knock, or Pass Without Trace. Once a spell has been cast using the key, it can’t be used to cast that spell again until the next dawn.

Exalted State

• As a bonus action, you can touch the key to a floor, wall, or ceiling that is no more than 5 feet thick and cause a magical opening to appear in the surface. When you create the opening, you choose its length and width, up to 10 feet for each dimension. The opening lasts until the key passes through it to the other side, at which point it disappears (if a creature is in the opening when the doorway closes, the creature is safely shunted to the nearest unoccupied space). The key can’t be used to create another opening until the next dawn.
• While holding the key, you can use an action to cast one of the following spells from it: Dimension Door, Gaseous Form, or Mislead. Once a spell has been cast using the key, it can’t be used to cast that spell again until the next dawn.

History

In the closing days of the Calamity, in the Moonweaver's hidden cache in the Stormpoint Mountains where there were multiple Vestiges of Divergence secreted away, Fiedra Marrow discovered a very magical-looking key with a symbol of a labyrinth on the handle. This key also had a ruby set in the middle of the maze that could glow warmly. The key was also sentient, communicating with its wielder telepathically, and it could (with some effort and pain on its part) discover doors even at a distance and signal for them, emitting a bright red beam toward its target. The key could also search widely for a given subject by peering through keyholes far and wide.

The Key entered its Awakened State while helping Fiedra infiltrate the room in Vasselheim where Lord Callister and his son were sleeping. Fiedra transformed the key into a dagger, but instead of simply killing Lord Callister while he slept, she woke him and attempted to talk. Lord Callister instead charmed her, took the key, and used it to bleed Fiedra to unconsciousness. Though Crokas arrived in time to prevent Lord Callister from finishing the job, Lord Callister escaped with the key and his son and began talking with the Lord of the Hells, who congratulated him on finding the key and told him to "find them as only a mortal can."

Weeks later, just after the decisive Battle of Ghor Dranas in which the Lord of the Hells was defeated and banished to his realm of the Nine Hells, the party found Lord Callister and his son in a chapel of the Moonweaver. They overheard the key objecting to a wish of the lord's, and burst in to attack. Fiedra snatched the key and it told her to get the child through the door in the back of the room, but Fiedra sensed something amiss and realized it was the voice of Asmodeus, newly trapped in his realms of the Nine Hells and still recovering from his recent wounds. In order to return to Exandria, the god required either Fiedra's permission as the holder of the key, or the body of the child (created as a soulless vessel) to enter his realm. Fiedra destroyed the ruby to prevent Asmodeus from taking Garen into the Nine Hells.

Trivia

• A key resembling the Infiltrator's Key made an appearance at the end of The Legend of Vox Machina, Season Two, where Scanlan Shorthalt took possession of it. By Season 3 he used the key to open the Château Shorthalt.

References

Art: